Privacy Policy

British Youth Council Privacy Notice:

How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the British Youth Council collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:

  • people who use our services, eg who subscribe to our newsletter or request a publication from us
  • visitors to our website
  • job applicants and our current and former employees
  • complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry

People who use British Youth Council services

The British Youth Council offers various services to the public. For example, we send out publications and distribute an electronic newsletter. We sometimes use a third party to carry out hard copy mailings on our behalf, however all personal information supplied to them is erased after the mailing is complete.

There are a number of services and channels that we use that collect personal information that we will hold on file. An example of these are:

  • using the ‘Contact Us’ page on the British Youth Council website
  • downloading a resource available on the British Youth Council website
  • filling in a British Youth Council online survey
  • booking onto a British Youth Council event
  • making an enquiry about or taking up British Youth Council training,
  • Entering a British Youth Council competition

We have to hold the details of the people who have requested the service in order to provide it. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes (unless we advise otherwise at the time of collecting the information).

For example, we might use information about people who have requested a publication to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received. Or we may contact people about other services offered by the British Youth Council or partner organisations that we think they might be interested in.

When people subscribe to our newsletters, they can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.

Visitors to our website

When someone visits our website we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behavior patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the British Youth Council’s website. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

We use Google Analytics to help analyse use of our website. This analytical tool uses 'cookies', which are text files placed on your computer, to collect standard internet log information and visitor behavior information in an anonymous form. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) is transmitted to Google. This information is then used to evaluate visitors’ use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity for the British Youth Council. To find out more about cookies, including how to control and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org

The British Youth Council will not (and will not allow any third party) to use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to our site. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source as part of our use of the Google statistical analytics tool. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Neither the British Youth Council nor Google will link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user.

If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be upfront about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

People who make a complaint to us

When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This will contain the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint. (We are unable to deal with a totally anonymous complaint)

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide.

We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about (if its about an individual). This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

Job applicants, current and former British Youth Council employees

When individuals apply to work at the British Youth Council, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law. 

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held and we retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities.

Once a person has taken up employment with the British Youth Council, we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment. Once their employment with British Youth Council has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.

Access to personal information

The British Youth Council tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:

  • give you a description of it;
  • tell you why we are holding it;
  • tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
  • let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

To make a request to the British Youth Council for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to our Communications Team, at the address provided below.  If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review and we will place any updates on this webpage. This privacy policy was last updated on 30 March 2010.

Complaints or queries

British Youth Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate according to our complaints procedure. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of British Youth Council’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to communications@byc.org.uk, or posted to the address below.

ICO Registration Number: Z1644027

BYC is registered with the Information Commissioners Office and recognises its recommended good practice. For a full list of our record topics you can check out the ICO website:

UK Young Ambassadors
c/o British Youth Council
6th Floor
Hillgate House
26 Old Bailey
London, EC4M 7HW
United Kingdom